A SHORT NOTE ON THE INDIAN RATS. 



frequently done, is absolutely useless. The best way to make cer- 

 tain of avoiding bad results is to keep the rats in a large bulk of 

 spirit for about a week They can then be transferred to a 

 smaller receptacle more suited to packing and postage. It is 

 well to add to the spirit carbolic in the strength of 1 02. to the 

 pint, and the belly should be slit open to allow of penetration of 

 the preservative medium. A glass-stoppered bottle is the best 

 receptacle ; the stopper should be luted with soft paraffin or seal- 

 ing wax or pitch. Screw- topped jam jars will do, or for large 

 consignments a kerosine tin may be soldered up, care being 

 taken that the soldering iron is not too hot. Formalin may be 

 used, but it must be remembered that in India weak solutions 

 are absolutely useless ; time and again I have received tins that 

 contained little better than formalin rat soup. As the result ot 

 experiments I think that nothing under 15 per cent solution ot 

 formalin is to be depended upon in India, particularly with large 

 and thick-skinned rats. This is equivalent to 6 per cent of formic 

 aldehyde, as formalin, the commercial preparation, is a 40 per 

 cent solution. Even with this strength it is necessary that no 

 time should be lost between the death of the animal and its 

 immersion in preservative. 



Formalin is volatile, so the same precautions should be 

 observed in sealing up as in the case of spirit. Specimens in the 

 former preservative should not be kept for long in tins. 



LABELLING SPECIMENS. 



It will be found of the greatest service if a register is kept of 

 all rats forwarded, or in other words of all rats measured, as skins 

 or spirit specimens without fresh measurements are of compara- 

 tively little use. The register might be as follows : — 











t>» 





































4) 





o 

















H3 





£> 

















3 





T3 





o 











o 



'-J3 





a 



■ 



o 

 a 



, 



cS 







0} 







a 



* 





3 







6 



"o 



js, 





-a 



tM 



2 



a; 



o 







o 







o 









o 





to 





o 



.b 







J 



-g 



A 



53 



J* 



'5b 









-U 





+o 



*£> 



c* 



V 



1 



S A 



to 



50 



C 



bD 



a 



s 



£ 



a> 



e8 



o 



O 



S3 



IB 



53 



(D 



d 



aj 



« 



Q 



A 



m 



J 



J 



a 



J 



fc 



Ph 





















The date of collection is important as an index to seasonal 

 changes of coat ; the number of teats is rather important, as the 

 number and distribution vary in different species. The most> 



